


nothing but sincerity (as far as the eye can see)

by shuuuliet



Category: Psych (TV 2006)
Genre: Charlie Brown - Freeform, F/M, Halloween, Happy Halloween, It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Peanuts Gang, Set in Season 3, Shules, in which Shawn and Juliet watch Charlie Brown and then take a little nap, pining Jules, sleeping together but like LITERALLY sleeping together no funny business, so here's just another moment of them wanting each other, they just want to be together but they can't get their act together enough to actually BE together, trick or treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27309016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuuuliet/pseuds/shuuuliet
Summary: It's Halloween night, and Juliet is exhausted after a very difficult week at work. A visit from a certain psychic might provide just the trick (or treat) she needs to make her rough week not so bad after all. [Set in Season 3.]
Relationships: Juliet O'Hara/Shawn Spencer
Comments: 9
Kudos: 19





	nothing but sincerity (as far as the eye can see)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween, everyone! I thought I’d throw a little Shules scene together in celebration of today.
> 
> As usual, I own nothing! The title comes from a line from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!, which will make sense when you read the story. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

It was remarkable, Juliet thought, as she pulled into her driveway at half past seven on Halloween night, how some years, Halloween just made the world seem more anxious, a bit more foreboding.

Although, now that she thought about it, it wasn’t that the world itself was darker, it was just that she hadn’t had enough sleep to deal with the uptick in crime that always came this time of year. She and Carlton had been working all week on a double homicide, and the trail was growing cold fast. Even Shawn and Gus hadn’t been able to be much help, since the Chief had only brought them on the case today, and they’d been crazy busy as well, working on two private cases simultaneously.

The Chief hadn’t known about the private cases, or at least she’d pretended not to—it was against policy for Shawn and Gus to work on police cases while _also_ working on their own cases at the same time—but then again, now that Juliet thought about it, it was highly possible Chief Vick was just turning a blind eye since their case had hit such a dead end.

The Chief had sent her home tonight, though. After Juliet had run herself into the ground all week, she and Lassiter were simply too exhausted to be any use tonight, and they were just going to have to look at the case with fresh eyes in the morning.

It was especially lucky to have the night off since normally, she’d be on duty—Halloween was a busy night for cops—but as she hadn’t had a day off in almost two weeks (today was _supposed_ to be her day off and she hadn’t even gotten _that_ , with the crazy overtime she’d needed to pull for the case she was working on) she was more than ready to lie low at home, pass out candy to trick-or-treaters, and hopefully watch the _Charlie Brown_ special when it aired, her favorite Halloween tradition since she was a little girl.

Once inside her house, she poured the candy she’d bought into a mixing bowl to pass it out, and soon enough, her doorbell rang.

It seemed to ring almost incessantly after that, pausing just long enough for her to change into her pajamas, and she almost laughed at the fact that she’d thought being at home would somehow be more relaxing than being at work. The constant getting up from the couch to go to the door was certainly not letting her get out of her anxious headspace.

But it was getting late, and even the oldest trick-or-treaters would be done before long, she hoped. Sure enough, the times between doorbell rings gradually began to grow longer, and she was considering just leaving the candy bowl outside and going to bed when it rang again.

She went to the door, candy bowl in hand, excited to see what costumes the kids would be wearing. She’d seen some creative ones this year, and it was nice to be surprised.

She was not disappointed. The familiar man in a flannel shirt standing on her doorstep certainly _was_ a surprise.

“Shawn?” she asked.

“You’re not even wearing a costume,” he said, looking at her in disappointment.

She frowns. “When would I have had time to find a costume? Besides, neither are you!”

“Jules, I’m already full of tricks. A psychic needs no costume.”

“Is that right?” she asked, as she moved aside to let him in. “Well, if you’re not here to trick-or-treat, what are you doing here? And where’s Gus?”

Shawn sighed. “Gus has to give a big speech tomorrow at some pharmaceutical conference, and we’ve been so busy this week, he hasn’t had time to practice.” He paused, frowning, and reached into her candy bowl for some M&Ms. “So just like that, I’m _banished_ from the Psych office. But I knew _you_ wouldn’t be so cruel as to kick me out, Jules.”

She eyed the candy in his hands. “Well, don’t press your luck.”

He laughed and leaned forward to grab another handful of candy out of the bowl. “This is the entire _point_ of Halloween, Jules.”

He seemed to believe it, too. Over the next hour, he virtually emptied her candy bowl in between trick-or-treaters as they sat at her kitchen island and discussed the cases they’d been working on this week.

Finally, the conversation slowed as exhaustion seemed to get the better of both of them, and Shawn stood up. He looked tired, and she’s surprised that he’s even letting her see how tired he is—it’s unlike Shawn to drop his guard for even a moment, let alone let his Energizer Bunny routine on hiatus—but she likes seeing him like this, softer somehow. Still so very much Shawn, but gentler, less afraid maybe. His eyes aren’t darting around like they always do on cases, and he’s just letting himself _relax_ , just be. It means more to her than she feels ready to consider, that he lets his guard down in front of her. Despite her exhaustion, she’s sad to see him go, knowing that the next time she sees him at the station, that guard will be back up. Granted, she loves that Shawn, too, but that Shawn is for everyone, and the way he is here seems just for her.

Just as she stands up to walk him to the door, though, he surprises her. “Okay,” he says, “it’s movie time.”

She frowns suspiciously at him, but doesn’t immediately dismiss the idea. Something about having Shawn stay a little longer is too tempting, and she doesn’t seem to feel quite so tired anymore. “What kind of movie?” she asks.

“Well,” he says, “it _is_ Halloween.”

Juliet feels herself tense a little. Halloween means scary movies to most people, and even if she hadn’t had the crazy week at work that she’d had, she’s never liked scary movies. Her worry must have shown on her face, because Shawn laughs.

“Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t say a scary movie. You hate scary movies, Jules, and besides, _It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!_ is on, and I know you watch it every year.”

“How would you know that?” she asks.

He puts his fingers to his head. “Jules, come on. Besides, the spirits happen to like Charlie Brown quite a bit, so they led me here.”

She rolls her eyes, but she has to admit that it’s moments like this that make it really hard to be skeptical of his psychic abilities. “Do they?”

“Well, they like Snoopy. And they’re big believers in The Great Pumpkin.”

Juliet nods in mock-sincerity. “That makes sense. Seems like the Great Pumpkin fits in the same realm as your spirits.”

He nods sagely. “Exactly. So we doing this or what?”

“Wait,” she says, “I’m just going to put the rest of the trick-or-treat candy outside so we don’t have to keep getting up to get the door.”

Shawn laughs. “Some kid’s gonna take everything that’s left, Jules. Probably even the bowl, too.”

“Something tells me _you_ were that kid,” she responds.

Shawn grins. “What use would I have had for a giant, plastic bowl?”

“Oh, I’m sure you and Gus would’ve found one. Or just taken the bowl for the heck of it.”

Shawn frowns playfully. “You’ve been talking to my dad, haven’t you?”

“Well, maybe now that you and Gus are off the streets, the rest of the kids will play nice.”

“Jules, you’re a cop. You know better than anyone that the streets of Santa Barbara are full of hooligans! And they’re probably hiding in the bushes as we speak, just waiting to take your mixing bowl.”

She laughs. “Let them. I’m so tired, I don’t want to get up again until the movie is over.”

After she puts the candy outside--Shawn shaking his head behind her--they sit on the couch, closer, perhaps, than Juliet would have intended. She places a pillow between them to maintain some affectation of distance, trying not to notice that she does it begrudgingly. Before she knew it, though, she was leaning against it, her shoulder pressed into Shawn’s arm, her head almost leaning on his shoulder.

Shawn knew the cartoon word-for-word, she could tell, and she idly wondered if he also had an annual tradition of watching it. Before long, he was providing his own dialogue and commentary, and even though she always looked forward to watching the regular version every year, she found she liked Shawn’s better. Certainly, it was much funnier, which came as no surprise.

After a while, though, his commentary tapered out, and without looking at him, she could feel his breathing evening out (by now, the top of her head was _just_ resting against his shoulder).

Sure enough, when she turns her head to look, Shawn is asleep. _Sugar crash_ , Juliet thinks. But no, knowing Shawn, he’d probably fallen asleep there intentionally— _I’m already full of tricks_ —but she found herself not entirely minding. Instead, she let herself lean on him a little. There couldn’t be more than ten minutes left in the cartoon, and then she’d wake him up.

Moments later, Juliet felt her own eyelids growing heavy, which wasn’t at all surprising after the week she’d had. She kept trying to keep her eyes open, but it was a losing battle and she knew it. Maybe if she could just rest them for five minutes…

Juliet shifted in her sleep, feeling herself slowly drift back towards consciousness. She always seemed to sleep restlessly when she was on busy cases, her body never quite letting her relax enough to stay asleep. And yet, she felt secure, safe, cozier than she had for a long time, like someone was holding her tightly. She opened her eyes with a start when she realized who it had to be.

Sure enough, her head was resting on Shawn’s chest, and his arm was draped protectively around her, his hand in her hair. Somehow, they’d ended up lying on her couch, her body curled against his, and he was sound asleep. The TV was still on, having moved on to _Casper the Friendly Ghost_ (which, by the looks of it, was almost over), and she couldn’t be sure how much time had passed. The amount of moonlight streaming through her living room window made her guess it was maybe two or three in the morning, so she deduced (even in the early hours of the morning, it was impossible to turn her detective brain off) that another movie had played between _Charlie Brown_ and this one, all while she’d been having the best sleep she’d had in a while.

She looked up at Shawn’s face as he slept. His boyish features were even more endearing, somehow, and she smiled to herself. If he _had_ fallen asleep on purpose, tricking her into a moment like this one, if she was honest with herself, she didn’t mind. It was always a privilege to be let in on the moments in which he let his guard down, but tonight felt particularly special, and not just because lately she’d caught herself wondering a few times (okay, more often than she felt comfortable admitting) as she drifted off to sleep at night, what it might be like to fall asleep in his arms.

It turned out, she felt even more content than she could have imagined. It just felt _right_ , lying here with him, like this could be permanent, like they could fall asleep like this every night if they’d both just quit dancing around each other and let themselves admit that they wanted to.

And maybe they weren’t quite ready, yet, but lying here, with him, in this private moment, she started to wonder just what they’d been waiting for. She’d long since realized she had feelings for him, after all, but in this moment, it was beginning to dawn on her just how deep those feelings ran—here, in his arms, she knew she was falling in love with him; she could see herself letting this be how she woke up every morning, so happy, so _lucky_ he was letting her this close.

She wanted that future. Yes, it was the middle of the night—not usually the time for making long-term plans or trusting your thoughts to be entirely rational—but she knew that when morning came, she would feel that same longing, just to stay right here, with Shawn, in this moment.

She weighed her options for a moment, before letting her eyes close again, keeping her head on Shawn’s chest and shifting her body so she snuggled just a little closer to him. If this _was_ one of Shawn’s tricks, it felt an awful lot like a treat. And, just this once, she was going to let herself enjoy it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! As always, I love comments and I would love to hear your thoughts!
> 
> Hope you have a great Halloween! Stay safe, everyone!


End file.
